FADER Premieres D.R.A.M.'s "Excessive" + Interview

Virginia croonerD.R.A.M. is what you might call wide-eyed. On the cover of his 1 Epic Summer mixtape, his massive grin steals the show, but sitting in the FADER offices on a frigid weekday, it's his pair of wandering pupils that come to stand for the blissful, vagabond voice he spills out on his songs. "Because I was so sheltered at that time, I was very introverted," D.R.A.M. recalls of his early days in grandma's house in Hampton, Virginia. "I was the class clown that never got sent to the principal cause I'd get my grades still." This duality shows up on his latest single, the Sango and The Seventh-produced "Excessive," where he lists off cars, houses, and other rapper flora before acknowledging he can't have it both ways: I wanna party like the red pill but still take the blue pill.